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PI OriginalAricka FlowersSaturday January 19th, 2013, 9:19pm

The PI Week In Review

The week that was in news and politics (January 14 - January 19).

City and County NewsBusloads of Chicago and suburban residents filed into the pews of a
South Side church Sunday for an afternoon remembrance of Martin Luther
King Jr. and called on a dozen elected officials to join their push for
social and economic justice in the area.

Rate hikes on the Chicago Transit Authority took effect
Monday. The price of one-day, three-day, seven-day and 30-day passes
have increased to $10, $20, $28 and $100 respectively. The cost of the
passes have jumped between 16 percent and 74 percent.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling for a
look into city pension funds to see if there are any investments in
manufacturers or sellers of assault weapons. If there are investments in
such companies, the mayor wants the city to divest from them.

Emanuel said he supports more thorough background
checks and a standard on federal gun prosecution Tuesday night during a
South Side panel discussion with policymakers and scholars about the
politics of guns in America. The public meeting was on the eve of
President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden’s announcement of acomprehensive gun control package, that calls on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban and law requiring background checks on all gun buyers.

Belmont-Cragin resident Mary Bonelli is 76-years-old, has cancer and
is about to be thrown out of the home that’s been in her family for
nearly 100 years. Her home went into foreclosure in the spring of 2011
due to a bank error, she said, and by the time she realized the problem,
it was too late. Tuesday, she was put on the Cook County Sheriff’s
eviction list. On Wednesday, Progress Illinois was there for a
candlelight vigil meant to bring attention to the issue and help save
Bonelli's home.

One day after reports surfaced that the owner of a custodial firm
failed to disclose that he sold half his stake in the company prior to
winning a $99 million city contract, members of SEIU*, which represents
former janitors at O'Hare Airport, called on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to
void the deal that resulted in the laying off of more than 300 workers
last month at a press conferene Tuesday morning. Five Chicago aldermen are calling for an investigation in the controversial $99 million janitorial
city contract that has made headlines for the past several months. On
Wednesday, Alds. Roderick Sawyer (6th), Ricardo Munoz (22nd), Scott
Waguespack (32nd), Nicholas Sposato (36th) and John Arena (45th) sent a
letter to city Inspector General Joe Ferguson to investigate the deal
after the Sun-Times reported that United Maintenance Co. owner
Richard Simon sold 50 percent of the company one year before getting the
O'Hare Airport janitorial, yet failed to tell city officials about the
change in ownership during the bidding process, which is required by
city law.

Thursday, Emanuel proposed
amendments to the city's gun ordinance that boost penalties for firearm
possession without a permit and the sale of high-capacity magazines,
and increase jail time for gun violations and failure to report a lost
firearm, among other things.

Emanuel has officially begun the process to replace former 7th Ward alderman Sandi Jackson, who resigned last week. A web site went live Friday morning where interested parties can get information to apply for consideration for the job.

Proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last March and approved by the Chicago
City Council in April, the Infrastructure Trust outlined a way to
finance infrastructure projects in the city during a time of prolonged
federal and state budget crises and near absolute political aversion to
tax increases. Its polarizing central concept of private companies
investing in public infrastructure and then receiving some undefined
return on their investment was alternately seen as a revolutionary way
to improve Chicago and a nefarious step towards private investors
opaquely dictating public policy. We took a look Friday at what has come of the
controversial Trust thus far.

Logan Square Neighborhood Association’s Parent Mentor Program is
expanding to 45 low-income schools across Illinois this spring, thanks
to a $1 million grant from the Illinois State Board of Education and a
partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
and other state-wide community organizations. Progress Illinois was
there for the kick off the program's expansion.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett reportedly agrees with the preliminary recommendations of a panel she commissioned on school closings, which says high schools should not be closed.
Last Friday, the Commission on School Utilization released a
preliminary report stating that high schools should be taken off the
chopping block list due to the effect that closures could have on gang
violence. This Friday, Barbara Byrd-Bennett said
most top performing schools and high schools will not be on the school
closure list. But the keyword is most: Byrd-Bennett says that high
schools and top performing schools located in older buildings that are
in bad shape requiring a great deal of costly repairs would be
considered for either closure or relocation.

The Chicago Teachers Union held
community outreach sessions Saturday at seven locations to "educate and
provide an opportunity for residents to speak out for quality public
education, be a voice for their own communities and join the CTU in
efforts to save neighborhood schools."

State News

Several Illinois counties are experiencing
devastating levels of poverty, with 1 in 5 residents living below the
poverty level, according to a new report PI covered on Tuesday. Social
IMPACT Research Center's report found that nine counties have poverty
levels over 20 percent. The state poverty level is 15 percent.

Seven Illinois Department of Employment Services (IDES) offices are set to close due to a reduction in federal funding. IDES is almost 100 percent funded by the federal government.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has given the thumbs up
to gun control legislation that has been introduced in Springfield.
State Sen. Antonio Munoz and State. Rep. Edward Acevedo have introduced
gun control legislation that will put restrictions on assault weapon and
high-capacity magazine sales and force gun owners to contact state
police when a handgun has been stolen or is lost. The legislation also
calls for harsher punishment of straw purchasers, or someone with a
clean record who buys a gun for someone else.

Residents of Springfield had a chance to meet with Mayor Mike Houston on Wednesday evening during a meet and greet session.

Gov. Pat Quinn appointed
former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to the University of Illinois'
Board of Trustees, citing his record of fighting political corruption
that "has protected the public interest."

A winter season that has thus far been defined by a record number of
snowless days and unseasonably warm temperatures has experts, advocates
and some of Illinois’ newly-elected congressional lawmakers raising
concerns over the kind of impact such conditions will ultimately have on
the environment.

Longtime Illinois political figure Dawn Clark Netsch has announced that she is battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

National News

President Barack Obama unveiled a
comprehensive gun control plan Wednesday that includes 23 executive
orders, three of which he signed at the announcement. Among other
things, Obama’s plan calls on Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons
and high-capacity magazine clips as well as a law penalizing staw
puchasers, or those who buy guns for someone else.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is looking
to be actively involved in immigration reform. Ryan
has reportedly spoken with U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who has been
a staunch voice in the call for comprehensive immigration reform in
Washington, about the issue and is set to continue to do so as the
process moves forward.

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is reportedly in talks with WIND for a radio talk show. Walsh is nationally known for his polarizing rhetoric and confirmed to the Daily Herald that the conservative radio station has voiced interest in having him as a regular on WIND.

Jobless claims in the U.S. have hit a five-year low, according to the Department of Labor.

The National Latino Coalition on Climate Change (NLCCC) is calling on
President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
address air pollution and the health hazards associated with it. The
group sent a letter to the President and the EPA Thursday asking for
stronger carbon emission standards for coal-fired power plants. The
coalition noted that the Latino community is especially vulnerable to
such emissions since half of its U.S. population lives in counties where
there are violations in clean air standards.

President Obama's well-oiled and successful grassroots-style campaign machine for election, and then re-election, will not fall fade into the ether now that he is set to be inaugurated on Sunday.
Instead, the heavily tech and social media dependent campaign will be turned into a grassroots non-profit called Organizing for Action with the aim of moving forward the issues and policies that united his supporters in the first place.